Nerina Lascelles

The artwork of Nerina Lascelles invites viewers to reach beyond wave forms and cloud forms and ranges of mist obscured mountains, beyond rocky summits, precipitous slopes and shadowy ravines, toward depths of field within which a spacious luminescence holds sway.

Lascelles’ development has been informed as much by the formal study of art as it has by culturally focussed field trips abroad – to Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Nepal, Myanmar and Japan. Her journey has followed the relationship between transcendence and art across a range of Eastern philosophical traditions within which visual art and poetry are used as aids to meditation.

The diverse materials that can include metallic leaf, hot stamping foil, acrylic, silkscreen and epoxy resin are layered into her paintings creating a pastiche of the antiquities that inspire. A select few of these treasures include scroll paintings, traditional textiles, byobu (folding screens) and Japanese lacquerware.

Influenced also by the visually arresting Shanshui (mountain/water) painting that originated in 5th century China, the abstracted landscapes featured in Lascelles’ previous bodies of work arose from an idealised impression of the natural world.

The paintings in this exhibition however, reference a number of physical locations along the picturesque Great Ocean Road in Victoria.

While her studio is situated in Melbourne, Lascelles has spent decades developing a deep personal affinity with Lorne and surrounds on countless field trips from her family home at Moggs Creek.

This series of Otway landscapes not only explore the Dadirri (inner, deep listening and quiet, still waiting) experience of connecting with this Gadabanud and Wadawurrung country – whether that be through listening to the crashing waves against the rugged coastline, sitting beside ferny creeks fed by waterfalls or inhaling the wafting eucalyptus mist deep in the forest. The paintings themselves act as sadhanas or objects for mindfulness and meditation.

As the mountains, cliffs and rock formations within these works embody strength, timelessness and certainty, waves, mist and the areas of spacious light lure viewers to mystical beyonds where form ultimately gives way to a nurturing formlessness, and where objects, emotions and thoughts are replaced by a yearning for something essential, for an essence, for a luminous presence at our core.

After completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts, and a Grad Dip in Painting, Nerina Lascelles has continued to exhibit in both Australia and internationally for over 30 years. Her paintings are part of private collections in Australia, Singapore, UK, America and Japan.